Rush
by 221WolfTrapVirginia
Summary: Will knew that if he looked back, he'd have to help her, and if he helped her he'd want to keep her. Her being a human being made that an impossible thing to do. He had picked each member of his pack up and coerced them with some lunch leftovers that hadn't appealed to him in the Quantico cafeteria. He had never imagined picking up Rush the exact same way.
1. Chapter 1

Will Graham didn't do people. The way he was wasn't compatible with other people, and he didn't want to cause a conflict. Besides, it was much easier to interact with animals like his pack. Winston and the others were always there for him, his faithful companions, and the furry family he had made for himself was more than sufficient.

Hannibal had tried to analyze his choice of company more than once, questioning his solitude and his furry family, but no amount of psychoanalysis could ruin the comfort they gave him. It was Winston and the pack in Wolf Trap that kept him together some days. He had picked each of them up –off the highway or otherwise- and coerced them with some lunch leftovers that hadn't appealed to him in the Quantico cafeteria.

He had never imagined picking up Rush the exact same way.

* * *

She was small- at least; she looked small in her wet clothes and baggy, sopping sweatshirt. She had obviously been unable to find shelter from the earlier rainstorm, and the slow, plodding foot-after-foot hinted that she had been on the road for a long time.

Gnawing at his lip as he passed, Will made a decision and sighed. He stopped the car.

To his surprise, the wandering girl froze and retraced the step she had been about to take. Her wariness was not unnecessary, as the FBI had put out many warnings to girls such as herself concerning the Chesapeake Ripper, and Will found the similarity to his own manner refreshing. Waiting in his car, Will watched her in his rear-view mirror with growing unease. She just watched him idle there, the empty road making the sounds of his engine a thunderstorm overhead, and he couldn't –for all his empathy- fathom what was going through her head.

He glanced at the clock. Five minutes of idling? Oh God, the world didn't need that useless punishment- checking his mirrors, Will slowly backed up the car.

"Hi." He said shortly, rolling down his window and leaning across the passenger seat a little. "You look..." He strained for a word that didn't make it sound like he wanted to rape her. "rained-on."

"Hn." Quickly picking up her speed, the girl took off running into the sticks, away from him and his horrible attempt to offer her a ride into town, and Will sighed heavily as she disappeared from sight as quickly as a wild deer.

"Way to go, Graham."

Will had continued on his drive, stopping briefly in town to grab some groceries and a few spindles of coloured thread for his lures, and dabbled with the idea of venturing into the diner when he saw the girl again. She came staggering out of the woodlands and plopped herself down on the curb across the street, panting heavily.

There were twigs and leaves stuck in her brilliant red hair –the brown and green easily noticeable against the fire truck hue- and a smear of mud ran across the side of her face like a scratch. When she looked up at him, they locked eyes for a second, and Will flinched when she looked away to eye the pedestrian crossing the street at the corner with a burger in his hand. He knew that look; the desperate gleam in her eyes was hunger, and he had gotten Winston with that same look and a few sausages.

Turning on his heel, Will shook his head and refused to look back at the girl- she was obviously a runaway, and she was _very_ obviously hungry. He knew that if he looked back, he'd have to help her, and if he helped her now he'd want to keep her just like he had his dogs. And her being a human being, that wouldn't be a very respectable thing to do, so Will quickly stuffed his things into the back of his car and skittered into the diner to avoid her.

When he emerged an hour later, his stomach swishing with dark cheap coffee, she was gone like she had never existed, and Will was relieved as he got into his car again. He started his engine and rolled out of the lot, dissatisfied with the setting sun and his decision more and more as he left the stores behind for the last long stretch before the turn of his driveway.

He felt like a bum.

He should have helped her.

The least he could have done was buying her a burger or something.

Suddenly, as Will zoomed along the road in the fading light, a flash of red in his peripheral vision made Will jerk and he slowed down in time to see the vagabond disappear from the reach of his taillights. He stopped sharply, throwing himself between his front seats to ravage through the grocery bag for something edible.

When Will at back up with his prize, he could see the poor girl trudging along with her arms crossed over her chest tightly. She didn't stop for his vehicle this time –if he _were_ the Ripper, she was a prime target now- but she did stop when he rolled her window down and said, "Here."

She caught the bag of beef jerky, fumbling with it, and stared at him suspiciously through the door with the package clutched tightly in her hands. She didn't speak, not a word, and she didn't move a muscle; slowly her eyes dropped to the jerky in her hands, and she glanced at him through the cascade of bangs that fell in her face.

"It's teriyaki beef." Will said lamely, unable to hold her eye-contact. "I, uh... you looked hungry earlier." When he glanced, she looked a little ashamed and wasn't staring back, like him realizing she had been hungry was shameful somehow.

"I'm hungry a lot." She rasped. Obviously she hadn't spoken to _anyone_ in a very long time.

"I've got leftover Chinese two driveways down." Will didn't realize he'd said it until she looked up at him in shock. "I always order extra." He knew it was risky and he could see her playing out the pros and cons of going with him in her eyes, but he had to offer it to her. When she looked back up, a question in her eyes, he shrugged. "I'm used to strays... stray dogs." She glanced down at the beef jerky quietly and Will read her mind. "You can eat it on the way."

She was very quickly in the passenger seat, one hand in the jerky bag and the other clutching her sodden canvas bag close as if he might take it from her. She ate quickly, hardly a breath in between bites, but she was quiet like a rabbit as if she was used to not being allowed to make noise.

Will faintly wondered where she'd come from. She obviously wasn't from around here.

"So..." Will struggled to fill the silence. "uh..."

"I'm not a sex trade worker." She said sternly, eyeing him with severity. "I am not a criminal. I am not homeless." Her hands kept busy with the jerky until it was all gone, stuffing her face with it, and when it ran out she looked into the bag, scandalized.

"Glad to clear that up." Will said dryly, spotting his driveway. "Why are you wandering around Virginia then?" He caught her shrug from the corner of his eye, the nonchalant gesture concerning, but Will had already committed to this stray and he didn't give up easily. He pulled up, put his car in park, and sighed. "Right then."

"Is this it?" The cherry-headed girl was suddenly out of the car, her bag in her arms like a comfort object. Her head whipped around, her bright eyes locking with his intensely, and for a moment she looked ready to bolt again.

"Yeah," Will nodded. "this is home."

Turning back around, she stared at his house critically, her fiery eyes narrowed and distant as she took it all in. "It's nice," She murmured finally, her shoulders dropping a little. "very homey." She looked at him again, a little less carefully, and he took it as the sign to continue; he headed up the worn footpath, hearing her little footsteps following close, and mounted the porch steps slowly.

He was going to let her in.


	2. Chapter 2

Even as he passed over his threshold, Will's discomfort didn't fade. His pack brushed around him, the soft brush of their coats familiar stimuli that usually smoothed whatever rising hackles he had, but there was no shaking his uneasiness.

"Sorry about them." He said as the dogs converged on the girl. He pulled off his jacket, keeping a watchful eye on his pack as they investigated her and shoved their wet noses against her. She flinched, carefully holding her arms and bag above their wide eyes and their lolling tongues. She watched them as warily as they watched her until, slowly; the largest dog snuffed once and nudged her legs toward the large open room.

Her eyes flew to Will's, manic and wide. She said nothing, and Will was shocked by the fear she presented; he had never believed Hannibal when he'd said he could _smell_ fear, but looking at her he could almost believe it. "They don't bite." He said quickly, unclogging his throat. "They're all friendly."

"Right..." Carefully she followed his pack into the living room, under his watchful eye, and soon she was in the pile as though he'd introduced her to them like any other dog. Will watched them all settle together, her tight expression going lax, and suddenly she and the pack were piled together and drifting off to sleep. He watched them ease in to each other, her breathing evening out, and eventually he relaxed with them.

Among the mismatched kinds of dog fur, she looked almost at home, and Will regretted stopping his car instantly.

He was getting attached to the stray too quickly, and she'd only just arrived. Never mind how the pack would react if he left one day and didn't come back to them; seeing as she'd been welcomed into the pile, she was practically _family_. Will cursed quietly under his breath, briefly inspecting his kitchen to make sure that the leftovers _were_ actually there.

The last thing he needed when she woke up was to not have the food and look even more like some sort of creepy predator.

Suddenly, Will's phone went off and he jumped at the sudden noise that shattered his home's stillness. A dog shifted, scratching an itch, but the newest edition to the pack was sound asleep amongst her new siblings and beyond the reach of ordinary appliances. Will stumbled and answered it, trying to keep his voice down, and was not surprised by the caller.

"Will,"

"Jack," Feeling his guts clench, Will glanced at the pack and saw Winston rouse himself. "what is it? Another case?"

"No, actually." Jack's tone lightened and, for a moment, Will felt an even larger wave of fear wash through him. Why would Jack be calling him if not for a case? What could he want now? Didn't he ask enough? "Zeller, Price, and Katz have something from the latest victim. We need you here A.S.A.P."

"I can't." Will regretted his refusal immediately.

"'You _can't_'?" Jack repeated incredulously, his impatience seeping through. "This could be the discovery to _break_ the case, Will! With this, we might be able to _catch_ the Chesapeake Ripper!"

"Jack, I _know_!" Will snapped, carding a hand through his hair. "I just- can you give me _five_ minutes before you breathe down my neck again? I'm only human,"

"Five minutes?" Will sighed at the disbelief in the agent's voice.

"Not _actually_ five minutes, Jack." Will was tempted to hang up the phone right there. "I need to sleep, eat; I've gotta take care of my _dogs_. I picked up another stray this afternoon and she'll need a bit of time before I leave her alone with the pack for very long. I don't need them _killing_ her in a pack scrap. I can't leave right now,"

"And tomorrow?" Jack demanded,

"No dice." Will was beginning to like pissing Jack off a bit; it served him right, running him ragged at each of his grisly crime scenes. "I'll need at least tomorrow as well to get her integrated."

"Great." Jack muttered, saying something else Will didn't catch. "Thanks, Will. We'll see you the day after tomorrow at nine."

"Right." Will hung up the phone to stave off Jack's angry tirade over his lack of dedication to the cause. He left his phone in the fridge when he checked for leftovers, preoccupied with his own mind, and suddenly she was right in front of him. He jumped, surprised that she had been able to sneak up on him with all his pack surrounding them, and she stared him down intensely.

"What was _that_ about?" She asked quietly, her hands clenched into fists.

"...my boss." Will admitted quickly, "He wanted me to come back into work."

"And that part about the new stray?" She prompted, "Was that supposed to be me?" She didn't betray anything; her face remain composed, almost curious, and she didn't flinch when he nodded and told her the truth.

"Yes, I was talking about you." Will murmured, his eyes averted from the fire in her eyes. "I... collect strays." Will explained lamely, holding out his arms as his pack came around him like his canine disciples. "Off the highway that goes through here... wherever. I was going to help you sooner, but I just... pack is my family. We stay together. I didn't want to help you and get..."

"Involved?" She looked fairly unconcerned by his confession.

"Attached." Will managed to spit it out finally and something changed in her expression that unglued his tongue. "I didn't want to help you, and then not want to let you go again. I'm sorry. I know it's weird, but I just... I'm not a _people_ person. The way I am isn't compatible with other people."

"So you have dogs instead," She filled in, nodding quietly as the dogs brushed against her legs also. "and a hard-ass for a boss. No wonder you don't like people..." Will shrugged noncommittally, waiting for her to scoop up her bag and, maybe taking some food with her, take off without looking back like she did the first time they met. "I don't either."

"Imagine that." Will looked up when she shuffled a little, petting Lincoln on the head and stooping low to pick up Crockett, the little _ he'd gotten just before Winston had turned up. He watched her stroke the little dog's ear affectionately, cooing to him, until he couldn't take it anymore. "Shouldn't you be going?"

"'Going'?" She looked up from the dog in confusion and met his eyes readily. "What about the Chinese you promised? And didn't you just get tomorrow off to make me one of the gang?" She cocked her head to one side, letting the dog jimmy out of her arms, and the pack looked at him expectantly, as if the dogs and the girl were all on the same wavelength.

"You want to stay?" Will asked numbly, shocked.

"Why not?" A small smile pulled at the corners of her mouth, changing her expression from curious to pleased with just the tiniest tweak. "I've never been in a pack before. And you don't seem like the kind of man I'm running from, mister..."

"Will." He stuttered, "Will Graham." Holding out his hand to shake, he managed to give her a quick up and down before he had enough of physical contact. "What's your name?"

She shrugged again and hugged her middle self-consciously. "My dad gave me a name, but he never called me anything nice. I don't use it anymore."

"Well, what do I call you?" Will asked uncertainly, his forehead wrinkled in anxiety.

"Think of something." Shrugging off his question, the girl squatted and preoccupied herself with the dogs, leaving Will with the task of naming his newest stray. Will met the eyes of his pack in turn, when they weren't sucking up her attention, and chewed the inside of his cheek until it came to him.

"Rush."


End file.
